Precariousness, low wages, pensions, security, taxation, health, tourism, Pnrr, the themes explored during the interview with Radio Onda Verde in which Franco Cavallaro, general secretary of Cisal, did not fail to throw a jab at the regional government led by president Roberto Occhiuto.
“On health care, tourism, the Pnrr, we are ready to confront each other, share our ideas, our proposals, say with great freedom what is not good as happened in recent days regarding the lack of personnel in the Civil Protection operating rooms Regional, everything in the light of the sun. We are not used to closing ourselves in the halls of power, as the governor has done with some other unions, resulting in choices that are not very acceptable”.
Low wages and work. “In Italy, even those who work are poor. The problem of work should be read not only from an employment point of view, but also from a salary point of view. In the last year alone, wages have fallen by 7.5%, brought to their knees by inflation but also by the chronic delay in contract renewals. Anyone who arrived wire wire at the end of the month today on the 15th of the month is already in serious trouble. Just go shopping to notice.
Minimum salary. “We share Prime Minister Meloni’s proposal to involve Cnel and the social partners that are represented in it to arrive at a valid proposal on poor work and low wages. An indication very close to our request to set up a National Observatory on Remuneration which, in synergy with the Cnel, will detect the methods of intervention to improve wages and verify the adequacy of collective labor agreements, indicating, where necessary, a intervention to raise wages. The best way forward remains to strengthen collective bargaining by supporting it with tax and social security regulations, especially when it promotes virtuous models linked to productivity, innovation, company welfare and employee participation. And then we need to review the rules on the contractual holiday allowance. By progressively increasing it in relation to the delay with which contracts are renewed, it could immediately protect the remuneration of millions of workers but above all stimulate the employers’ parties to follow up on the renewals themselves”.
active policies. “We must tell ourselves frankly that active labor policies in this country have not worked”. In support of his thesis, the Secretary General of Cisal cited data from Eurostat, according to which there are 17.7% of inactive Italian children, the highest rate among the twenty-seven EU countries”. According to statistics, NEETs (children who neither study nor work) in Italy are 19%, equal to 1.6 million young people. A fact that Cavallaro defines as “immoral, because it clearly indicates that it is absolutely necessary to change, relaunching the centrality of youth employment, enhancing tools such as apprenticeships, promoting higher technical institutes and investing in formulas capable of retaining the best talents, such as industrial doctorates”.
Job security. “It is a real massacre. Daily. We are talking about three deaths a day. In discussion tables with the government we reaffirmed the need for a comprehensive reform of the matter with the extension to other sectors as well, not just the building sector, the system of company qualification and the points-based licence. Cisal’s proposal – he explained – is to create a single model to be applied compulsorily to all sectors in relation to the type and size of the company, in order to allow a dynamic assessment of the possession of the suitability requirements. A “quality passport” that can be consulted by the interested parties, which rewards virtuous companies that invest in prevention and safety and penalizes those that are not in compliance. An indispensable tool, also for school-work alternation, through which to select companies with high safety standards able to welcome our students without risk. Together with the request for the scrapping of obsolete equipment, a safety bonus for businesses, administrative simplification and a one-stop shop for safety, we have proposed – underlined Cavallaro – to allocate the financial surplus of INAIL, which according to the forecast for 2023 will amount to around 1 billion euros and the sums in stock, to research, prevention and the implementation of interventions necessary to guarantee the highest standards of occupational safety in our country”.
IRS. We shared the measures adopted by the government on the eve of May Day which went in the direction we hoped for, such as those concerning the cut in the contribution wedge and the inclusion income. The hope is to find structural solutions to get the country back on its feet also in light of the increases in raw materials, energy and fuel, to put more money in the pockets of workers and pensioners and at the same time allow entrepreneurs to invest in a new workforce ”.
Pensions. We need more quality work and an overall reform of the social security system that gives dignity to those who have worked a lifetime and makes the future of the new generations less gloomy. The current regulatory framework, in this perspective, appears to be inadequate and unjustly punitive: in fact, the stability of the system – continues Cavallaro – implies a blockage of generational turnover. Talking about early exits and supplementary pensions is important but they are only palliatives. The real problem is the amount of the check that will be paid to future retirees, fully governed by the contributory system, who will suffer a very severe disadvantage compared to previous generations. For us, the goal remains that of sharing and defining interventions and solutions that lead to a structural reform of the pension system which, however, cannot ignore the increase in employment and wage levels, the reduction of the phenomena of tax evasion and avoidance and a correct separation between social security and assistance. We find on the one hand the workers who are afraid of retiring due to the cut in the allowance provided for by the contributory system and on the other the young people who, as a result, enter the world of work increasingly late and intermittently. Young people who, according to the latest projections, in fact, could retire at 74, moreover with very low allowances. Fixed-term contracts and job discontinuity, associated with low wages and lack of social guarantees, do not help. And with low and discontinuous wages, future pensions, if nothing is done, will literally starve”.
Pnrr. “We share the Government’s strategy aimed at remodulating the Pnrr with the aim of intervening on critical issues and coordinating all interventions in the field, with a view to complementarity between the Pnrr and the other development and cohesion funds. We believe a partial revision of some interventions is necessary with the possibility of creating osmosis between PNRR and RePowerEU within an overall game to be won for the fight against energy poverty, support for productive investments, infrastructures and energy plants”. A priority for us is that the resources of the Pnrr are destined to bridge the north-south gap and thus avoid the socio-economic desertification of our south, which is at great risk. Work is central – remarked Cavallaro. Allocate resources to have more employment, which is of quality and able to give added value not only today but also in the medium-long term. Without forgetting the need to strengthen the public administration apparatus, which is suffering greatly in the south, so that it can respond more effectively to the projects that will have to be managed”.